Learn to Jump

[Kekona Hanson]

Kona smiled at the praise, then breathed a sigh of relief as they were allowed to sit back down. More leg days in her future, for sure!

She listened to the new instructions, looking out at the poles. That didn't seem too hard in theory. In reality, it might be harder. She shook her head, not having any questions, and then waited for the okay to start.

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

Kate waited a moment or two to be sure that there were no objections before saying "Right. Walk march then; nice and active otherwise you'll be standing up forever waiting to get over the poles, and then we'll wear you out far too early." The blonde smiled. "Lead file, if you feel like changing rein, please let us all know so we can avoid collisions." She didn't particularly like the idea of turning around to find herself unexpectedly nose to nose with a horse that was trying to cut across the arena.

[Kekona Hanson]

Kona grinned at the woman's instructions, enjoying the humor, and then pushed Casper into a walk, falling into step as the second in a row. As they approached the first pole, Kona pushed herself up into the jumping position - straight back! - until Casper had crossed the pole. Luckily, the gelding didn't seem to care too much about the poles, and could take care of stepping over them, so Kona could focus on her positioning. And here came the next pole, and up she went again, and then down.

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

Kate stood in the centre of the arena, watching the horses move around her and feeling rather as though she was the ringmaster of a slightly repetitive circus. Occasionally, she called out instructions to make a minor correction for one of the riders as she watched, until finally she was satisfied. "Ok, well done everyone." she called out brightly. "We're going to take things up a step now, so everyone take sitting trot at somewhere around C. Same principle; shouldn't be too difficult. OK?"

[Kekona Hanson]

Kona focused on her positioning, but when Ms. Richardson-Hall called out a correction, she did her best to adjust to that. It seemed reasonable, though, and Kona was about ready to try it at a trot when they got the permission to. She nudged Casper up a gear and then resumed - Up, down, up, down.

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

Kate was rather pleased as she stood in the centre of the arena and watched the now rather faster progress around her. Posture wasn't quite so good all around, but that was only to be expected as there was more pressure to get into it quickly. "Excellent, well done everyone!" she called out. "If you could come to a halt somewhere around F?"

[Kekona Hanson]

Kona breathed out as she heard the call to halt, and followed the person in front of her to 'F'. She really did need to learn the letters around the arena, too. That might make classes easier if teachers were going to keep calling them out! She patted Casper on the neck, happy with the gelding for being so patient with her - Even if her posture hadn't been perfect. He deserved a carrot once they got back to the barns, that was for sure!

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

Kate waited patiently until the ride had reached the desired spot and then began to speak again, having to walk towards the track to make herself heard without shouting and wishing that she'd thought to acquire a microphone as Gail had. Still, it was too late now, and so she would have to make do. "That was very good." she began brightly, surprised more by her own success than that of the students. "So, next we're going to try it in canter, since that's how most courses of jumps are done. We'll do it one at a time this time round, so I can watch you more closely as an individual. And for safety reasons too, obviously. So, take sitting trot as soon as is practicable, and then canter at C. When you're ready, please."

[Kekona Hanson]

Kona sucked in a breath as she heard that they'd be doing it at a canter now. She'd felt hurried with the trot, this would be a challenge - But hey. She was here to be challenged, wasn't she? She watched the kid in front of her go, and then, once he was back, asked Casper for a trot, and then they changed to a canter at C. She really focused on keeping her back straight as she rose into the jumping position, and then sitting back down while Casper closed the distance between poles. Finally, they made it back to the line, and Kona slowed the gelding.

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

Kate watched patiently as one rider after another made the journey around the arena. It took longer than she had anticipated, but she supposed that that was permissible. They had all day, after all, and she didn't have anything better to do, which was why she was here in the first place if she was honest with herself. Some riders were far better than others, but the blonde put that down to natural ability. Some had it, some didn't, and while it was true that anyone could learn how to jump, a predisposition towards it would work wonders. But hard work healed all wounds, and they had all day. "Right then! Not bad at all. Just a few minor issues, but we can work on those. So next, we'll be trying this out over some cavalettis if everyone's comfortable doing so, and then if we've got time, we'll try it over some small jumps."

[Kekona Hanson]

Things were going fast! Kona didn't have any objections to trying cavaletti - considering she wasn't sure what they were - but hey, if the teacher thought they were ready, then why not? She nodded and waited for something to be changed, since it sounded like they wouldn't be working with the poles on the ground anymore.

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

Cavalettis didn't take much setting up, which Kate was thankful for as she hurried to and fro across the arena, arranging the equipment in the correct places down the length of the longest side, set slightly inward from the track. This would have been so much easier if there had been two of them as originally planned; Gail could have been talking people through it while Kate took care of this part. She did her best to multitask, but without the benefit of a microphone, she didn't want to risk her words being lost in the space. Finally, she'd arranged everything to her satisfaction, and, stepping back, appraised her handiwork for a moment before turning to face the students. "Right. This isn't too radically different. Same principle as before- jumping position over the poles. It's just that the poles are slightly raised, all right? We're a bit tight on space for this, so it'll be one at a time over these, and no faster than a trot. When you're ready, then."

[Kekona Hanson]

So those were cavaletti. Kona watched as Ms. Richardson-Hall placed little stands under the poles so that they were raised off of the ground. Not real jumps, maybe, but an intermediate step. Kona nodded at the instructions and again waited for the person in front of her to go. Then she asked Casper for a trot, and they attempted the cavaletti. At some point, Kona managed to throw the horse off by rising too late, and Casper clipped one of the rails, although she wasn't sure if it had fallen. Once they got back, Kona looked back, pleased to see that it had stayed upright.

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

Once again, Kate watched as the riders went one by one over the cavaletti, and it occurred to her as she was calling out "Put your heels down!" for the fifth time that there was a hell of a lot of repetition involved in teaching. She hadn't exactly encountered the problem before in her driving classes, since currently, only one student was able to work at once, and she was therefore fully focused on them and their problems, so that she scarcely noted the fact that she was saying the same things six or seven times. Once the last rider had gone, she turned to face the class once again. "Right. That wasn't bad, but I think the cavaletti threw one or two of you off, so we'll try that again in trot in a moment. Firstly, though, I'd like to remind you all that your lower leg shouldn't move when you enter the jumping position." She gave a pointed look to the boy at the front, who was driving her mad. "And secondly, some of you are rising too far out of the saddle. Imagine that you're trying to keep an egg balanced on the saddle- you want to be touching it enough that it won't roll off, but not so much that it'll crack. OK. Let's go again."

[Kekona Hanson]

Kona listened to the corrections, although it was really hard to adjust while focusing on the next pole. Resolving to do better next time, she just stored the corrections away, and while she watched the other riders, she went over what she'd been told to fix. She was glad to hear that they'd take another stab at this exercise, and took in the added information. She'd have to be careful about those two things. Once it was her turn, she moved Casper off again, and this time, they didn't hit the poles. Kona wasn't sure if she'd looked any better, but she'd certainly tried!